Too Young Not to Die
by LuckyNumber13Girl
Summary: Amber isn't even old enough to be unwound, but she's been kidnapped by Connor and is on the run anyways. She also has a temper, an overactive imagination, and is too smart for her own good. And oh yeah, she has a HUGE crush on Hayden.


Lev

Lev stared at Pastor Dan in horror.

"What do you mean-"

"RUN!" he shouts, his face swollen.  
>Lev turns and starts running. Oddly calm, he figures that Pastor Dan just doesn't want him to get hurt before his tithing. He sprints for the woods, across three lanes of traffic, and becomes lost in the trees.<p>

Connor

Connor turns around quickly. He needs to think fast. A car swerves to avoid him and turns over in a ditch. To his surprise, someone gets out. It's a girl a couple of years younger than him. She's madder than anyone he's ever seen.

"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU! YOU'RE GONNA KILL SOMEONE!"

"Why do you care? You late for something?"

"My big brother's about to be unwound and-"

Connor hadn't been paying attention. At the word "unwound" he flips. He has to get out, and he's already caused too much death. At least he can save this one girl from her fate. He grabs the girl and flips her over his shoulder. It's easy, since she's about a foot shorter than him, and she's really skinny.

She's screaming and shouting and pounding on his back with her fists, but Connor doesn't care. He makes a run into the woods after the girl that got off the bus. A tranq bullet hits the girl in the back, and she falls limp.

Amber

When Amber finally woke up, she almost instantly starts screaming and trying to untie the ropes around her wrists. The boy clamps a hand over her mouth.

"Shut. Up. Someone will hear us. And then I will kill you."

Amber's face pales and her eyes widen in fear. She gives a stiff little nod. Connor takes his hand off her mouth.

"What's your name?" he asked harshly.

"A- Amber" she stutters, her voice barely more than a whisper.

"I'm Connor, she's Risa, and we don't know the brat tied to the tree."

Amber nods stiffly. She stares in complete shock at the boy bound to the tree.

Connor quickly unties the rope around her hands and feet.

Amber's eyes flick from the boy in white to the gun in Connor's belt. Her eyes are wide and her face is devoid of all color. She wraps her arms around her knees and rocks back and forth, breathing heavily. Connor and Risa don't really know what to say. After about fifteen minutes, the other boy wakes up.

"Where…" he says thickly.

"Not sure." Connor says.

"But at least you're safe." Risa interjects reassuringly.

"H… H… hostage?" the boy gets out.

Risa and Connor exchange looks then Connor looks back at the boy. "Kind of. I guess"

"You hungry?" Connor asks. The boy in white nods then says "No."

"You seem confused." Risa says calmly. "Don't worry, it's just the tranqs. They should wear off soon."

The boy in white is quiet for a moment then says, "My parents will look for me."

He waits, and then says, "how much is the ransom?'

"Ransom? There is no ransom! We took you to save you, idiot!" Connor shouts. The boy stares in disbelief.

"But… But… my tithing…"

"I've never seen a kid in such a hurry to get unwound." Connor says to Risa. Amber looks back and forth between the three, thinking hard. Everything falls together in her head. The boy and the girl were runaway Unwinds, and the boy in white was a tithe. The boy, who probably wasn't mentally stable, thinks he is saving him. Amber still can't figure out why she's there.

The boy in white is silent for moment before saying, "My name's Lev."

"Pleased to meet you, Lev. I'm Risa, and this is Connor," Risa says.

"Who's she?" Lev asked, glancing at Amber.

"Amber, I think. " Connor says.

"Why's she here?" Lev asks.

"I don't know, actually." Risa says.

"I think she's an Unwind too. I took her to save her."

Everyone looks at Amber, who whispers, "I'm not an Unwind." Her heart might explode in her chest. She knows they'll kill her now. They have no reason to keep her alive. And they can't have a witness.

"I thought you said you were and Unwind!" Connor says.

"I didn't." Amber says. "I was trying to save my big brother."

"How old are you anyways? You look like, ten or something." Lev interjects.

"I'm twelve."

"Oh."

"So… uh... what are we going to do with her now?" Connor asks.

"I don't know, take her with us, I guess." Risa says.

There's another awkward silence, then Risa looks at her watch.

"Your turn to sleep, Connor. I'll keep watch. "

Amber pretends to sleep also, but watches Risa. After about half an hour, she lays down with her head propped up with her hands. She soon dozes off. Amber slowly crawls over to Connor. She slips the gun out of its muzzle and he snores and rolls over. She freezes, knowing she'll probably be killed if he wakes up. She backs up and see's Lev staring. "What are you-"he starts to say.

Amber presses a finger to her lips and slips over to Lev. She silently unties him and examines the gun. She shoots Connor and Risa both in the leg, and then she levels the gun at Lev.

"Don't shoot! Please!" he shouts.

"I wanna get out of here; you wanna get out of here. We'll find our way to the nearest city, you go get tithed, I go rescue my brother, we're all happy. Got it?"

"Got it."

"We have about eight hours, let's go!"

Amber turns and starts walking into the forest.

Lev

Lev followed her, glancing back at Risa and Connor and the dying fire. He can't believe what this little girl just did. He fears the maniacs will kill them if they regain consciousness. The two walk in awkward silence. Amber keeps checking her watch, wary of when Risa and Connor will wake up.

A few hours later, there's a loud crash behind them.

Amber breaks into a sprint, and Lev follows. He has no clue where she's going, and he starts to run ahead of her. She can't run forever, and neither can he. Then suddenly someone tackles him to the ground.

Amber

Amber felt Connor's weight slam into her and she collapsed to the ground.

"What were you thinking? You're gonna get us all unwound!" Connor shouted at her.

"I can't get unwound, stupid! I'm only twelve! And Lev wants to be unwound. Can't you just back off?"

"Lev is a brainwashed idiot, and you have less than a year! They'll catch you and unwind you when you turn thirteen!"

"What is your big issue? You can't back off! I know where I'm going, unlike you, and-"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, there's a place for runaway Unwinds!"

"What are you talking about?"

"It's called the graveyard, but it's halfway across the country, somewhere in Arizona. "

"You're going in the opposite direction."

"I'm saving my brother. He got sent to Happy Jack."

"Happy what?"

"A harvest camp!"

"Well, you can't get there by yourself-"

"Actually, I can. I've gotten this far."

"Where you from?"

"North Dakota."

"And why was your brother sent to New York?"

"Because he was at a boarding school near there until my parents signed the order!"

"How long has he been there?"

"About two weeks."

"He's probably gone by now."

"I'm going to go and liberate the camp then, and then blow up the freaking thing!"

"You could have asked us. We'd be glad to help!"

"You think I'd ask you after you kidnapped me, tied me up, and threatened to kill me?"

"I wouldn't actually-"

"Whatever. Can you get off of me before I pass out?"

Connor yanked her to her feet.

"So where the heck are we supposed to go to-"

"One of my brother's friends told him to go to someone called 'Sonia' in an antique shop here."

"Okay, that's a start. Where's the nearest town?"

"Come on." Amber started walking, and Connor followed.

Risa caught up a few minutes later with Lev, and Lev didn't look too happy.

Amber led all of them towards a town, then straight to a little antique shop.

It was closed, but she banged on the door, and eventually a little old lady answered.

"What are you doing up at this ungodly hour!"

"We need help, Sonia."

"Unwinds? Alright, come on then."

Sonia led them inside, but Lev didn't follow.

"Come on boy, you want to be unwound?"

Lev bolted down the street. Connor turned to go after him, but Sonia stopped him.

"You won't get caught by the authorities. They'll never find you here. "

"Lev will-"

"Just trust me."

Sonia led them through the antique shop, and moved a large trunk and a rug out of the way, revealing a trapdoor. She tugged on the big brass ring and it came open, revealing a rickety set of stairs and three gaping kids.

"Don't just stand there staring like a pack of rats. Bathrooms back there, there's plenty of canned food, keep it clean or you'll have real rats."

"How much longer?" a mean- looking, tattooed boy asked.

"Why do you care? You have an urgent appointment?"

The boy glared at Sonia.

"Five more days until I'm rid of you for good."

"Then what?"

"The ice cream man comes."

Sonia climbed the stairs, closed the door and Amber heard the scrape of the trunk across the floor.

"Dear, sweet Dragon Lady won't tell us what happens next." A tall blond kid said with a smirk.

"We get sent to harvest camp and cut up, that's what happens next." Said an Asian girl with hair dyed a deep pink. She was wearing a leather dog collar.

The boy with the tattoo turns toward her.

"Will you shut up with all your end – of – the – world crap?"

"It's not the end of the world; it's just the end of us."

"You're beautiful when you're nihilistic." The blond boy said.

"Shut up."

"You're only saying that because you don't know what nihilistic means."

The Asian girl rolls her eyes. The blond kid stares at Amber.

"Who's the midget?"

"I'm not a midget." Amber grumbled.

"Then you must be about ten."

"I'm twelve."

"Why the hell are you here? Aren't you too young to be unwound?"

"Long story."

"Long four days."

"You don't need to know."

"I want to know."

"Too bad. I don't care."

"Whatever, pixie."

Risa holds out her hand and introduces herself. Connor does the same, and Amber does too.

The blond boy is Hayden. He's rich and his parents got in a custody battle over him. They would rather have had Hayden be unwound then see the other one gain custody of him. The order was signed, and Hayden ran away.

The Asian girl is Mai. Her family desperately wanted a boy, and Mai was the last girl. Her parents didn't like her very much, and eventually she set them off enough to have them sign the unwinding order.

The mean boy is Roland. His parents thought he was too violent, and he wanted to become a military boeuf, but it turned out he was too scary for the military.

Hayden kept calling Amber 'pixie' and the name stuck. Even Connor and Risa called her that now.

Amber sat on the ground near the stack of books and glanced around. Mai was sitting in another corner talking to Risa, Connor and Roland were in another argument, this one about food. Hayden was watching Connor and Roland argue. Amber picked up a book off the stack. It was some book written fifty years ago about a boy in a school for wizards.

She opened it and started reading "Mr. and Mrs. Dursley lived on number four, Privet Drive-"when Hayden plopped down next to her.

"Hey pixie."

"Hey ogre."

"Roland's the ogre."

"If Roland's an ogre, Mai's a witch."

"Ah, very good. I can picture her griping over a cauldron. Hmm… Connor's a dragon, 'cause of his temper"

"Risa's got to be a princess."

"Or maybe she's a girl disguised as boy."

"Why?"

"To be a knight, and save everyone with her maddeningly logical thinking."

"Good point, but princess is shorter."

"Then if you're a pixie that leaves me. What am I?"

Amber looked at Hayden for a moment.

"You're the knight, then."

"Am I?"

"I think so."

"Thanks. By the way, I think the ogre's in love with the princess."

"The dragon isn't, but he says he is."

"The dragon is a friendly dragon, disguised as a prince to help the princess on a journey."

"The dragon gets in a lot of fights."

"I haven't noticed." Hayden said sarcastically.

"The princess was raised as a slave, and the dragon is helping her back to the castle."

Amber and Hayden made up a long and epic saga involving an overly logical princess, who was running from evil wizards with the help of a dragon with anger issues, an ogre which kept popping up everywhere for no apparent reason and kidnapping the princess, a nihilistic witch, a cowardly, stuck up prince (which was Lev) a knight that didn't really want to be a knight, and a pixie that didn't really belong but was there anyway and got on everyone's nerves.

The ogre got captured by the evil wizards.

The witch blew up herself and the castle of the evil wizards with a potion.

The dragon turned out to be a cursed prince and reverted back to his human form and fell in love with the princess.

The cowardly prince became not so cowardly and founded his own kingdom.

They also invented the old king, who almost got killed when his subjects revolted, due to the ogre's lies. The dragon prince became king after him, because he retired.

The knight became a wizard (that didn't blow himself up) and helped the dragon prince when he became king.

And somehow, somewhere along the way, the pixie and the wizard/knight fell in love.

"And then the dragon kneels, if a dragon can kneel, and asks the princess to marry him."

"And the princess agrees."

"Then the dragon suddenly turns back into a prince."

"Because the curse lasted until he found someone who loved him."

"Who cursed him?"

"The witch?"

"I think the pixie did. She made him become like his temper through her adorable annoyingness."

"Then what?"

"I think the pixie needs to fall in love with someone."

"Who? Should the coward prince secretly be a pixie king?"

"Ew, no, Lev is gross."

"Who then? The ogre?"

"The ogre is dead."

"He's not really dead, he's just trapped in a bottle at the bottom of the sea in a cave inside of a dead sea monster. "

"The ogre is gross. And too old."

"Who's not gross?"

"I don't think you're gross." Amber said before she could stop herself. She turned bright red and clapped her hand over her mouth.

"Thanks, I think."

"Well, I think at the prince's coronation, there should be a big blowout between the cowardly prince and the knight/wizard to see who gets the pixie."

"And then they all start sword fighting and then everyone else gets involved"

"And then the pixie yells at the coward prince and the knight/wizard, and then she refuses to speak to both of them for a week."

"Then what?"

"The prince and the knight/wizard spent the week throwing rocks at her window and singing her praises."

"And?"

"The princess picks the wizard/knight."

"Aww. Anyway, what happens to the ogre?"

"There should be a different witch who fell in love with him."

"What is with the love?"

"Got a better idea?"

"I dunno."

"Anyways, then the coward prince falls in love with her and stops her from freeing the ogre and makes her happy and makes her his queen."

"But what about the bad wizards and their prisoners?"

"The dragon prince and his kingdom free them and defeat the bad wizards."

"And they all lived happily ever after."

"The end."

"I wish life was as easy as the fairy tale."

"I wish life was the fairy tale." Amber sighed. And, in a way, her wish would be granted.

Late that night, Amber couldn't sleep. She couldn't stop thinking about the fairy tale, and how much it related to what was happening to them. She wondered if Mai and Roland would really die, and if the people who wanted to unwind kids would really be defeated. And if they were, would Connor defeat them? And would Connor and Risa fall in love? But most of all, she wondered if she really would fall in love with Hayden. And there in the dark, she was able to admit to herself that she liked him. A lot. And, thinking about him, she finally drifted off.

The next day, Amber was more bored than the day before. She watched Connor and Risa argue. She thought about Hayden. She watched Mai read and complain about how they would die. She wondered if Hayden would ever like her. She watched Roland flirt with Risa, ration food, and listen to music. She wondered if she should tell him she liked him. She watched Hayden play with his candle. She thought about how cute he looked. She reorganized the bookshelf, and found several old notebooks and pens. She got an idea, and told Hayden her idea.

They wrote down the fairy tale. Of course, they gave everyone different names. Hayden was Justus, Roland was Uggworth, Lev was Charles, Risa was Penelope, Connor was Zach, Mai was Nightshade, and Amber was Destiny.

The fairy tale ended up filling three notebooks, and it took all day to finish. But Amber was glad they wrote it down. She flicked through the pages, the words alternating between her round cursive and Hayden's spiky print. She asked Hayden how old he was out of nowhere.

"I turned fifteen last month. Why?"

"I don't know."

"When do you turn thirteen?"

"In three months."

"Oh.

"Can your parents sign the unwinding order if you are already gone?"

"I don't know. Maybe. Depends if they think they can find you or not."

Mai suddenly looked up from her book.

"Today's the day we're gonna die."

"What makes you say that?"

"Dragon Lady says the ice cream man comes today, whatever that means."

"Maybe he'll turn us into ice cream."

"It's better than being unwound."

"Maybe he'll give us ice cream."

"I want chocolate banana." Amber said wistfully.

"I want double chocolate." Hayden said.

"Strawberry would be amazing." Mai said.

"I want vanilla chocolate swirl." Risa said.

"What flavor do you want, Connor?" Risa asked.

"Every single one."

No one asked Roland.

Later that day, the ice cream man did come. But, sadly, he did not bring ice cream. He took them. Mai was pouting in a corner. Roland was stewing in a different corner. Risa and Connor were snuggled up next to each other. Hayden and Amber sat next to each other. Amber carried the three notebooks.

"Let's tell scary stories." Hayden said.

"Our life is a scary story." Mai moaned.

"Your face is scarier." Hayden said matter of factly.

"Shut up." Mai growled.

"Connor's temper is the scariest." Amber said.

Connor ignored them.

"Who's heard of Humphrey Dunfee?"

"Everyone's heard of Humphrey Dunfee."

"Was he real?"

"Maybe, maybe not."

"I think the aspects of Humphrey Dunfee are real, just not the story itself."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean kids get unwound, parents regret it, parents try to stop it, but an unwind order is irreversible. "

"Duh."

"Whatever."


End file.
